These Balsamic Roasted Baby Carrots are so simple to make. They are drizzled in balsamic vinegar then roasted to perfection in the oven.
These balsamic roasted baby carrots are a family favourite. My entire family loves this recipe. We're such suckers for roasted vegetables.
Honestly, I think it's because we all have a sweet tooth, and roasting brings out the natural sweetness of the carrots.
I'm going to be honest, I am a huge carrot fanatic. It's one of my favourite vegetables. It ranks in the top 3, along with corn and broccoli.
During corn season all bets are off though. Then all other vegetables become invisible to me. I wear corn blinders.
Any time fresh baby carrots are stocked at the vegetable stands or Costco I have to pick some up and make these balsamic roasted baby carrots. I cannot help myself.
Seriously, I make these for all the holidays. They will show up on our table for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.
Family tradition, it's a good thing.
Just like these Balsamic Roasted Baby Carrots.
Ingredient Notes:
- Carrots - Use fresh thin baby carrots. You can buy them with the tops still on at quality produce stores. Costco actually sells baby carrots with the tops remove as well. They are really good.
- Oil - I used olive oil for this recipe but you can substitute Grapeseed if you like.
- Vinegar - You want to use a really good quality balsamic vinegar for this recipe. It will make all the difference.
- Spices - Keep it simple and just use salt and pepper.
- Garnish - This is optional, you can use fresh or dried parsley sprinkled over top.
How to Make Balsamic Roasted Baby Carrots:
- First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Then, line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. You want a rimmed sheet so the oil and vinegar don't spill over into your oven.
- Next, rinse the carrots and pat them dry.
- Toss the carrots in a medium size bowl. Set aside.
- Next, in a small glass bowl combine the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Whisk until it incorporates well. Then pour that over the carrots. Toss or stir until the liquid coats all the carrots really well.
- Then, transfer the carrots and liquid to the rimmed cookie sheet.
- Place the cookie sheet in the oven and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes. You can increase or decrease the cooking time depending on the thickness of your carrots. You can flip them halfway through the cooking time.
- Once they are caramelized nicely you can remove them and transfer them to a bowl.
- Lastly, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and parsley.
- Serve!
How to Store Cooked Carrots:
Allow carrots to cool completely before storing in a container. Store the leftover cooked carrots in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Again, allow carrots to cool completely. You can also store leftover cooked carrots in the freezer in a freezer bag or airtight container for up to 3 months.
How to Reheat Leftover Carrots:
Stovetop Method:
- Place a skillet on the stove over medium heat, add a little cooking oil and allow that to warm up for a minute or two.
- Then, add the carrots to the skillet and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Remove from heat.
- Transfer to a plate.
- Serve.
Oven Method:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Line a cookie sheet or baking pan with parchment paper.
- Transfer the carrots to the pan and spread out evenly.
- Drizzle with a little cooking oil or broth.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 8 to 12 minutes, or until carrots are warmed through.
- Remove from oven.
- Transfer to a plate.
- Serve.
Microwave Method:
- Transfer previously cooked carrots to a microwave safe dish.
- Place the dish in the microwave and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes. I recommend checking them every 30 seconds or so after the first minute. You can add a little broth or butter before cooking to help reduce moisture loss. Or a little bit of water.
- Remove from the microwave.
- Transfer to a plate.
- Serve.
Air Fryer Method:
- Place the carrots in the air fryer basket. Drizzle with a little cooking oil if desired.
- Set he air fryer so the temperature is between 375 and 390 degrees F. Then, set the timer to 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how many you are cooking.
- Turn the air fryer on and let it do its thing.
- Once it's done you can transfer the carrots to a plate.
- Serve.
Main courses to serve with this recipe:
- How to Cook a Spatchcocked Turkey
- Lamb Lollipops with Peach Salsa
- How to Cook a Sirloin Roast
- Slow Cooker Ham with Honey Mustard Glaze
- Honey Baked Chicken and Potatoes
- How to Grill a Tomahawk Steak from Kiss My Smoke
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Balsamic Roasted Baby Carrots
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs baby carrots tops removed, peeled if desired
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- 1 pinch dried or fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degree F.
- Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper, if you don't have any just spray it liberally with non-stick cooking spray.
- Rinse your carrots and pat dry.
- In a medium sized glass bowl (or large if double batching) place the carrots inside.
- In a small glass bowl add the balsamic vinegar, then slowly add the olive oil while whisking with gusto. Do not use aluminum bowls, it doesn't play well with acidic ingredients. Whisk with gusto until your arm falls off, or your ingredients combine perfectly.
- Now pour the balsamic mix over top off the carrots. Toss the carrots until well coated. Pour them onto the cookie sheet.
- Place in oven and roast them for about 30 to 40 minutes, depending on how crisp or soft you like your carrots, and how thick they are. I did not cut this batch in half since they were not overly thick, but you can do that if you like. I often do. I flip mine halfway through, just so I get that nice caramelized goodness on both sides.
- Remove from oven. Transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle with coarse salt, pepper and parsley.
- Serve with a big old Vitamin A loving smile!
Notes
Nutrition
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Dionne Baldwin
I am imagining the sweet and tangy balsamic vinegar with these carrots and I am drooling. Roasted carrots are sooooo good. Even by themselves. They are so beautiful!
MaryAnn
Yummo! I was a little adventurous and used some artisan balsamic vinegar I had purchased at a specialty store (1 T of vanilla & 1 T of Blackberry ginger) whisked with the olive oil and the carrots turned out great! I'm not a fan of parsley so I used fresh oregano. This is a keeper! More carrot recipes please!!!! 🙂
Kim Beaulieu
I have a similar one coming this week you might love. Keep an eye out.
And thank you so much. I love that you used blackberry ginger, I must try this. I have a zillion fancy vinegars I need to start using. xx
Evan @ Getinmymouf
Never in my wildest food dreams would I think that a CARROT dish would make me stop in my tracks. Don't get me wrong, I like carrots, but these look absolutely stunning. Not a huge fresh parsley fan (yes, I know...I know), but tarragon goes well with carrots so I may go that route.
Gudie
Love carrots, will be making these for Easter , roasted is especially good. Reading the article and your mentioning Leamington, wow------ brings back memories of summers spent their. You are right on about the corn... always stopped at road side corn stands to get it, fresh cooked w/lots of butter. Fond memories.
Kim Beaulieu
I love our growing season, it may be short lived but it's always spectacular. The corn is so out of this world.
Hope you love these. I'm making them tomorrow too.
Holly
Saw this yummy recipe on Pinterest so I came on over. While the carrots look great, I had to comment on your location. I lived in Windsor for a number of years as a child, and have been to Point Pelee a bunch of times! Great memories! Small world, I guess, eh? (That's my inner Canadian coming out.)
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Holly. I love roasting vegetables, I think it's because it brings out their natural sweetness.
We love Point Pelee. It's family tradition to bring all visitors to PP. We always do family get-togethers there. Love it. Such a fun place to visit.
Ella Imison
I love carrots! Will definitely make the balsamic roasted baby carrots today.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Willie
These carrots look so delicious and I would love to make them. However I don't have glass bowls and you said aluminum wouldn't work well. What about stainless steel bowls?
Kim Beaulieu
Plastic works too.
Carol
I came across this recipe again, and in the last few days I wrote how disappointed I was when I tried this recipe with store bought,baby carrots. I had them in for close to 2 hours, they were still hard, and although I like firm veggies, this was still too tough to enjoy. I see here you were using long, thin carrots, and I think I will give this another try and use that type. I don't know where these carrots in the bags come from, I almost surely would guess somewhere in the States, and I know that the type can sure affect the outcome. I am in Newfoundland, and we grow some good carrots here, but what is in the stores now is too big to hope to roast so I will keep my eyes open for nice, thin carrots. Happy New Year!
Kim Beaulieu
Hey Carol, did you leave a comment here on the blog, or email me? I've actually been off work for a couple of weeks. Partly for the holidays and partly for health reasons. So I haven't been posting, commenting or answering emails. I was just too sick. Today is my first day back to work so going through comments now. I'll peek for anything other notes you left but this is the first I've seen thus far.
I bought fresh carrots. I visit a couple of different farmers markets that carry them off season. I live in Ontario and there are tons of greenhouses here, some are doing year round growing so occasionally I get odd veggies at odd times. You can also, on occasion, find them at Costco. But just give them a bit of a snap test to see how hard they are. Cut them in half if they are massive size or massively hard. Typically fresh ones should only take 20 to 40 minutes depending on size and thickness. No more than an hour. Those giant ones in stores I could see taking 2 hours, but not fresh picked carrots. Makes such a difference unfortunately. I'm a carrot lover too and I know when I buy those gigantic ones I hate how long they take. You can roast them for 2 or 3 hours before they soften up. It's like they are made of stone.
Never hesitate to reach out. Typically I'm super responsive. Even if someone hates something (which makes me sad but I'm ocd so I'll actually walk anyone through a recipe if need be) I'll still respond. I've just been off work so things were piling up.
My brother is in Nova Scotia. My dad grew up in New Brunswick, so we love the East Coast. My dad is a Mahaney, lots of East Coast folks know the name. Not sure if that's good or bad. Lol!
Carol
Hi Kim! I was so glad to hear from you. I did leave the original comment on this blog through Pinterest.
Sorry to hear that you were sick. Sure hope you have made a full recovery, now and have a great new year.
I must try the recipe again, but I will not use those baby carrots. I don't know why they didn't work for me, but I will be on the look-out for some fresh carrots that are a good size for this. I am really dependant on only 2 main stores here for my produce, so I find it a bit limited at times. Summer is definitely so much better for veggies.
I sure love life here on the east coast, having lived almost my full life on the prairies, it is a welcome, and peaceful change.I will have to ask my husband if he recognizes that name, cause he is a real Newfoundlander from birth.
Thanks for responding to my comment.<3
Kim Beaulieu
Hey Carol. Thanks so much. Sometimes the pinterest comments get by me. It depends on whether I pin it or someone else does. Sometimes Pinterest alerts me, which is always nice. But definitely never hesitate to email me. I take my "job" here pretty seriously so if a recipe isn't working I'll problem solve it with the person, or go as far as to remake it to see if I made an error when writing the recipe up. I try to be super careful about things, but you just never know, we're all human. But you will always get a response if I see something. Nothing worse than a blog or website that doesn't respond to readers in my opinion. People hate wasting money on ingredients, so I figure it's my duty to do my best to test recipes at least 3 or 4 times before they hit the blog.
The east coast is amazing. Hoping to head that way in the summer. My daughter may do some training in the east this summer, so I'm looking forward to visiting my brother if that happens. I also love the west coast. My son is in Alberta and my sis is in BC. So I have family all over. The only places I don't care for are the prairies, mostly because it's so boring to drive through on trips.
Thanks again for letting me know. I hope you find fresh ones. I know this time of the year is impossible. I have to travel out of town to find good stuff so I totally feel your pain. I live in the boonies but just get lucky on occasion because of the greenhouses in Leamington. Or we travel for work and I'll pick stuff up in London or Toronto. We're like you, where we live has 2 stores, and neither is ideal. But the city is about 30 minutes away so we zip in there whenever possible.
Have a great week and thanks for your patience. And so sorry they weren't working for you. I know I hate when recipes fail for me so I can completely relate when it happens to others.
Jim
I made these tonight along with a smoked Jalapeno buttermilk meatloaf. They were excellent!!!!
Kim Beaulieu
Yeah, so happy to hear that. These are my favourite carrot recipe. Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
Chloe
I was looking for a way to use carrots over the winter, since they are always on sale. This was a great recipe and really easy to whip up! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I found the recipe on pinterest.
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Chloe. I'm so glad you loved them.
Tammy
I am hoping you get this post. I want to make these carrots for Thanksgiving and wondered if you can tell me the specific brand of balsamic vinegar you use.
Kim Beaulieu
Hi Tammy. You can use any brand of balsamic you like, but definitely go with a good one. I typically use a Canadian one I buy at a local grocery store, the brand is called Compliments. It's reasonably priced but the taste is spot on. On occasion I use an aged vinegar called De Nigris, it's SO good. It's a bit pricier but the depth of flavour is fabulous. If I recall it's the De Nigris I used for this one.
I also really love the Wildly Delicious brand of products. They do a lot of flavoured ones. I have a weakness for collecting vinegars I'll likely never use. Ha.
I hope that helps. Just a quick tip, if you find the great quality baby carrots that you get from farmers markets this recipe time is bang on. If you buy the massive carrots from the grocery store either cut them or increase cooking time a bit. I know someone tried to make this with regular big thick carrots but didn't adjust the time, so thought I'd mention that. Hope you love them. We make them every time Costco has baby carrots. So good. You can even grill them.
Amber
So excited to try this recipe! A it possible to make them a day ahead and then reheat? Trying to do all of the day before prepping I can before our thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.
Kim Beaulieu
Sorry, just saw this. Been a crazy week. These really are best the day off. I've reheated them on occasion but personally I think they taste best fresh. Sorry for not seeing this sooner. Usually I check every day but life has been a bit hectic.
Pam
I made these Christmas morning but we didn't eat until later afternoon. They did soften up a bit so I put them in the oven a little while and the did crisp back up some. Still good though.
Nicole
I have a bunch of mini baby carrots in the bag that I need to use up would they work?
Kim Beaulieu
They should absolutely work. I use baby carrots all the time. It they are thick I'll cut them in half. So tiny little mini ones would work. You will want to check them sooner though, they would cook in less time because they would not be as thick. Hope you love them.
Pam Daniel
I made these for Christmas lunch and they were so good. I had never roasted carrots before so I wasn't sure how they would turn out but oh my goodness they were really good. I had a big 5 lb bag of carrots and I roll-cut them into good sized bite size pieces which gave more surface area to get crisp and carmelize. Soooo easy!!
Val
I just made these to go with my supper and am posting about them on my blog. They're so good. Thank you for the idea. 🙂
Becki svare
I love roasted carrots. But, I've never put balsamic vinegar on them. I'll definitely have to try that! Sounds delicious
easypeasylifematters
My mouth won't stop watering, these sound so amazing! 🙂
Debbie Wark
These carrots look delicious! Can they be made a day ahead?
Kim Beaulieu
Hi Debbie. Absolutely! I do that quite often. Just make sure you reheat them in the oven instead of the microwave. The texture will be better if you do that. Let me know if you make them.
Meagan
I just made these for our Christmas dinner! It was delicious! I just realized that I forgot to add the salt and pepper after they were done roasting, but we didn't even notice it! Thanks for such a simple and yummy recipe!
Kim Beaulieu
Hi Meagan. I am so happy you liked this recipe. It's one of my personal favourites. We make it all the time. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment. It's much appreciated.
Sue K.
Delicious, nutritious, and easy to make - my three favorite qualities in a recipe! This one's definitely a keeper. Thank you, Kim!
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much, Sue.